


Repenting at Leisure

by kethni



Category: Veep (TV)
Genre: F/M, Secret Marriage, Sequel, request
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-13
Updated: 2018-01-13
Packaged: 2019-03-04 11:07:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,976
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13363389
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kethni/pseuds/kethni
Summary: Sequel to "A Marriage of Inconvenience"





	Repenting at Leisure

**Author's Note:**

> With thanks to everyone who asked for a sequel to "A Marriage of Inconvenience"

Selina was showered and dressed when Ben and Amy arrived. Them turning up together was not a good sign. Kent, in crisp, clean jeans and a casual shirt, was pacing the kitchen and talking on his cell via Bluetooth. Selina watched him gesturing with his free hand as he made coffee, cleared dishes, and concentrated on everything other than her.

Selina’s cell chimed with a text from Ben: _Open the fucking door already._

She snapped her fingers at Kent until he looked at her. ‘Ben and Amy are here.’

He marched past her out into the hallway. Selina moved back, not wanting to be spotted as he opened the front door.

There was a burst of noise from the doorway as the reporters peppered the three of them with questions. It shut off abruptly as Kent slammed the door shut.

‘Ma’am? Ma’am?’

Selina groaned as Gary ran into the corridor. She knew that expression far too well. Having established that she wasn’t dead or dying his concern was eclipsed by angry sulking. Just what she needed right now.

They gathered in Kent’s kitchen. Amy was clutching her cell tightly and twitching slightly. Kent was taking deep, slow breaths to calm himself. Ben was a worrying shade of purple.

‘Okay,’ Selina said. ‘What’s our play here?’

‘Our play?’ Ben erupted. ‘What’s our fucking play?’

‘Don’t raise your voice to me,’ Selina snapped.

‘I’m sorry, is your apparently _secret marriage_ not worth some comment?’

Amy folded her arms tightly across her chest. ‘Apparently? Is there some doubt? Maybe we could claim the license isn’t real or –’

Ben shook his head. ‘I meant nobody bothered to tell me.’

‘At the time, you were in hospital recovering from yet another cardiac event,’ Kent said. ‘By the time you recuperated, this issue had been dealt with.’

Ben waved a hand towards the window. ‘Yeah, this seems _real_ dealt with.’

Amy held up her hand. ‘Now we’ve considered Ben’s hurt feelings, what are we going to do about this?’

‘Can we deny it?’ Selina asked. ‘Discredit the licence?’

Kent rubbed his forehead. ‘And the other records, and the witnesses, the officiant, the money trail –’

‘Fine!’ Selina threw up her hands.

Amy tapped her foot. ‘Do we tell them about the pregnancy?’

‘What pregnancy?’ Ben and Gary asked.

Kent sighed. ‘What precisely do you know?’

‘Fuck all,’ Ben said.

Selina put her hands on her hips. ‘Gary, make some coffee.’

She didn’t have to look at him to know the mutinous look that passed across his face was gone in an instant, plastered over with obsequious obedience.

‘I got pregnant,’ she said to Ben. ‘During the campaign. Kent married me. We were gonna do the whole song and dance but I lost the baby.’

Ben was glaring at Kent. ‘Jesus, you’re so smart but you can’t figure out a condom?’

Kent looked at him blankly.

‘Not his kid,’ Amy said.

‘Kent was just... available,’ Selina said. ‘It was supposed to be a standard sham marriage.’

‘Oh.’ Ben snorted a breath. ‘Right.’

Amy pushed back her hair. ‘If we tell them about the pregnancy we can pass off separating so quickly as a result of the loss.’

Selina felt her stomach twist, and bile haunted the back of her throat.

‘Is that what you want to do?’ Kent asked. He was looking at her with warmth and concern.

Shit.

‘How do we explain the marriage?’ Ben asked.

‘Whirlwind romance,’ Amy said. ‘Fell in love. Got married. Pregnant. Miscarriage. All falls apart. It’s a compelling narrative.’

‘Nobody is gonna believe Kent swept her off her feet.’ Ben waved a hand at Kent. ‘It’s only a compelling narrative if you haven’t met robot boy.’

‘It’s not like the public has met Kent.’ Selina said. ‘So that doesn’t matter.’

Kent didn’t protest, but she saw the way he pursed his lips, and she knew that she’d hurt his feelings.

‘What about partners?’ Ben asked. ‘You dating someone? Is he fucking some replicant who’s gonna go running to the papers?’

‘Replicants had emotions,’ Kent said. ‘Albeit rather basic and simplistic ones.’

Ben glared at him.

‘I’m not dating,’ Selina said. ‘There was Ted but –’

‘We tell people that we’ve been separated since before then,’ Kent said.

Amy clapped her hands together. ‘Okay, we have a plan. All we need to do is –’

‘Fuck!’ Ben said, staring at his phone. ‘Why are there photographs of you at the window in a robe?’

Amy’s eyes ordered as she checked her cell. ‘Ma’am?’ she asked in a strangled voice.

Selina glanced at Kent. He was squeezing the bridge of his nose.

‘The vice president had a shower,’ he said.

Ben gave a deep groan. ‘You’re fucking?’

Selina snatched up the divorce papers. ‘This is why I’m here, okay? To get him to sign the divorce papers.’

‘I fear we may be getting off our response here,’ Kent said.

Ben checked his cell and glanced at Kent. ‘Don’t make any official statements,’ he said, stepping away.

Selina tapped her foot. ‘POTUS?’

‘I imagine so.’ Kent walked out of the kitchen, and returned a moment later with his tablet computer. ‘He’s unlikely to appreciate so much attention being pulled away from his infrastructure week.’

Selina rolled her eyes. ‘Like anyone was ever going to pay attention to that.’

‘POTUS says nix the divorce,’ Ben announced, walking back into the room. ‘We’ll look too family unfriendly.’

‘Family unfriendly?’ Selina sneered. ‘Half of congress are on their third wife. You’re on your fourth!’

‘Your numbers are up,’ Kent said.

They looked at him.

‘I’m unsure if it’s the secret marriage or the photograph of you in my robe,’ he said, misunderstand their staring.

Amy shrugged. ‘Okay, lets lean into it,’ she said. ‘Reconciliation. Secret dates. Push the romance. Ma’am we could get you some time with the fluffier reporters and –’

‘Now wait a minute,’ Ben said.

‘No, you wait a minute,’ Selina said. ‘POTUS told me to get married and I did. Now he’s telling me I can’t get divorced. I’m gonna make the most of it. Ames, come here. Let’s strategize. Gary, call Mike and Dan tell them to be on standby for a statement we’ll need to release.’

Ben turned to Kent. ‘Tell me this isn’t happening.’

‘Would that I could,’ Kent said.

‘POTUS is going to throw a complete shit fit,’ Ben said. ‘By the time they’re finished it’s gonna be the romance of the fucking century.’

‘Jealous?’ Selina asked over her shoulder.

Ben smiled thinly. ‘Yes, Ma’am. I’ve been trying to get Kent into bed for weeks.’

Kent crossed his arms. ‘What do you expect me to do about it? Either we get divorced or we don’t, there’s no third option. Whichever we choose the press will require a statement and the vice president will wish to maximise positive coverage.’

Ben threw up his arms. ‘POTUS doesn’t want that!’

‘That’s unfortunate,’ Kent said. ‘Because short of a war starting, it will be difficult to distract attention from the vice president of the united states admitting to a secret marriage.’

‘Don’t start a war.’ Selina said.

‘We’ll see,’ Ben said.

After a quick discussion, Selina sent Amy off to draft a statement with Mike and Dan. Ben skulked off shortly after, once he had prised an Irish coffee from a reluctant Kent.

They were suddenly alone again.

‘Reporters still out there?’ Selina asked.

‘Sadly so,’ Kent said.

Selina sank down onto the sofa. ‘Jesus.’ She looked at him. ‘Who’re you calling?’

‘My family,’ he said. ‘Before they see the news.’

‘Fuck. I guess I should call Catherine. And my mom.’ She pulled a face. ‘This day is never-fucking-ending.’

She watched him walk away to make his call. Even in pants his butt looked good. Guys his age normally had flat asses. How old was he anyway?

‘Mom?’ Catherine asked, when she finally answered her cell. ‘Why aren’t you saying anything?’

When Selina had finally finished talking to Catherine – disgusted and upset – and her mother – just disgusted – she realised that Kent had left the room. She found him in the kitchen.

‘What’re you doing?’ she asked.

He looked at the pan in his hand, clearly considering a sarcastic reply, but wisely changed his mind.

‘Pan fried duck,’ he said.

Selina’s stomach growled.

‘I thought you lived on salads and cereal bars,’ Kent said.

Gary, who had returned from fuck knows where, looked horrified.

‘I do,’ Selina said.

Kent waggled the pan. ‘I have enough for two but not three.’

Selina gave Gary a look. ‘Why’re you still here, Gary? Jesus. Go home.’

‘A little harsh, don’t you think?’ Kent suggested as Gary left.

Selina waved her hand. ‘He’s pissed about this whole situation. I have enough to deal without him silently judging me.’

‘It could be worse. He could be vocally judging you,’ Kent suggested.

‘I’ve got my mom for that,’ Selina said. ‘Was yours pissed?’

Kent’s cheeks reddened. ‘She said she told me so, that I had been lucky it didn’t come out earlier, and how did I expect to meet a nice girl if I went around being married to women I barely knew.’

Selina watched him begin cooking. ‘She told you so?’

‘When we married she said it would be a disaster.’

‘She’s not right yet,’ Selina said. ‘Wait, you told your mom at the time?’

Kent rolled his eyes. ‘It wasn’t _supposed_ to be a secret. We were going to tell people. I told my family, explained the circumstances, and then had to explain when the news was never released.’

Selina was quiet for a few seconds. ‘Because of the miscarriage.’

‘That was…’ Kent sighed. ‘That was unfortunate.’

‘Was it? We never talked about it.’ She folded her arms. ‘Nobody would blame you for being relieved.’

He raised his eyebrows. ‘I should think _everyone_ would blame me.’

She pursed her lips. ‘Come on, no guy wants to be stuck with another guy’s kid, and we weren’t even banging.’

Kent clasped his hands together. ‘I wasn’t aware that you’d done research,’ he said dryly. ‘How large was your sample size?’

‘Asshole.’

Kent looked down at his hands. ‘I was quite aware of the commitment I was making,’ he said. ‘I was somewhat… disappointed with the way things turned out.’

‘Oh.’ Selina shuffled her feet. ‘You never said anything.’

Kent shrugged. ‘You were devastated. My feelings were, at best, irrelevant. It would have been astonishingly selfish to intrude on your grief.’

Selina rubbed her eye. ‘Well... You never tried to be a stepdad to Catherine.’

‘She has a father, and I was under the impression that she knew the marriage was a sham. Your baby would have no such awareness. It’s a different situation.’

Selina snorted. ‘Sure. It’s not because a baby is cute as hell but Catherine is all... Catherine.’

‘She’s uh...’

‘She’s that alright.’

Kent put the food out. He poured two glasses of wine.

‘Sorry,’ Selina said awkwardly.

‘For what?’

She waved her hands. ‘There are reporters outside your house and your mom got to say, “I told you so.” That’s gotta bite.’

‘It’s not my favourite day,’ Kent agreed. He looked at his cell as it chimed. ‘They’ve sent through a first draft of your statement.’

‘ _My_ statement, not _our_ statement?’

Kent raised his eyebrows. ‘I’m not issuing a statement.’

‘Why not?’

‘It’s not about me,’ Kent said mildly. ‘This is about you. It’s always all about you.’

She scowled as she ate. ‘Oh boo-hoo.’

‘That’s not up to your usual level of abuse.’

She rolled her eyes. ‘Someone bent me over and screwed me senseless today. Twice. I’m tired.’

‘Not used to vigorous sex?’ he asked sweetly.

‘Fuck you.’

‘You did.’

Selina snickered. ‘Yeah. Gonna do it again tomorrow.’

Kent smiled. ‘Oh, really?’

‘It’s always all about me,’ she said. ‘And I say we’re gonna fuck tomorrow, and any other damn day I want.’

The End

 

 


End file.
